The crash that shook the world in 2008 and wiped away some 40% of America’s wealth hasn’t stopped people from blindly investing their hard-earned money into new and improved Wall Street devised money-making schemes. Last year the total of U.S. retirement Read more…

Word on the street is that the U.S. Federal Reserve will soon be announcing its intention of keeping interest rates low for a long time. While this may be good news for first-time home buyers looking to lock their mortgages in at Read more…

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San Francisco, California, July 11, 2012â€“ SmartStops.net, an online service that helps investors of all levels manage investment risk, announced today that the SmartStops BrokerLink service is now available for clients of online broker Read more…

These are stocks on a rendezvous with their lowest lows reached in the debt crisis of 2008-2009 … sinking back into the danger zone that came with red ink, bankruptcy, and financial ruin for millions of investors.

Hard to believe that could already be happening so soon after the market peaked?

Then consider the 25 stocks I’m going to list for you in a moment, starting with PMI Group, one of the nation’s leading mortgage insurers.

Two and a half years ago, at the height of the financial crisis, this leading mortgage insurer plummeted to a low of a meager 32 cents per share.

But in the weeks and months that followed, Washington worked overtime to inject trillions of dollars into the housing market and convince the world that the Great American Nightmare — the worst real estate crash of all time — was over.

Many Americans, blinded by their faith in “almighty government,” actually fell for it: The housing market stabilized temporarily. The economy recovered a bit. Stocks rallied sharply. And PMI surged, reaching a peak of $7.10 per share last year.

But that was just the prelude to disaster …

In the ensuing months, all of the government’s housing support programs and all the government’s mortgage subsidy initiatives failed.

Nothing the government did could stop wave after wave of mortgage defaults and foreclosures.

And even the government’s massive injections of money into the mortgage market were unable to prevent PMI from crashing again, closing at a mere $1.12 per share in late trading hours this past Friday.

That’s down a sickening 84% from last year’s high!

If you had invested $10,000 in this dog at that time, you’d now have only $1,577 in your account right now.

An Unimportant Company? No!

PMI has historically been a huge player with a pivotal function in the housing finance industry — insuring mortgages against default. But now …

If big mortgage insurers like PMI go out of business or refuse to write new policies, most lenders will refuse to extend mortgage loans to anyone except those who are rich enough to buy a home for cash and don’t need a mortgage to begin with.

Moreover, PMI is on the frontline of the losing battle against a flood of bad mortgages in virtually every region of the United States.

So if this company is drowning and its stock is sinking to zero, you can be quite certain that many other companies downstream — lenders and banks, builders and realtors, REITs and other financials — are likely to face a similar fate.

As I illustrated here last week, nearly all bank and financial stocks are now in a race for the bottom — the only difference being, PMI is “winning” that race.

Just a Technical Correction?

If the housing and mortgage markets were holding up nicely, perhaps you could make that argument stick. But the fact is, all three key facets of this giant sector are coming unglued at the seams —

The finances of homeowners who borrowed the money

The finances of bankers who loaned them the money

And the value of the home itself, the underlying collateral that’s supposed to be tapped when folks run out of money.

This is no small technicality. It’s a fundamental deterioration in the underpinnings of the entire sector.

“Why Can’t the Government Come
To The Rescue Again?” You Ask

For the simple reason that the government itself is ALSO running out of money.

But for argument’s sake, let’s say the government does somehow come up with more funds to pump into housing and mortgages.

OK. So what? What difference is that going to make?

Based on the recent history, the answer should be obvious: Not much!

Remember: No amount of government intervention has been able to prevent home prices from plunging to new lows — even lower than the bottom of March 2009, when homes were selling at deeply distressed prices. (See chart to left.)

Similarly, no amount of government intervention can prevent nearly every sector that touches housing and mortgages from suffering a similar fate.

“Martin’s Too Pessimistic. Don’t Listen to Him!” Say My Critics

Harry Truman once said. “I never give them hell. I just tell the truth and they think it’s hell.”

That’s what my team and I do.

If anything, we’re optimists. We find the few companies that do have the wherewithal to survive and even benefit. And we see silver linings in this crisis that I’ll be glad to tell you more about in future issues.

Moreover, this is isn’t the first time we have given advance warnings about companies like PMI.

In our Safe Money Report of April 2005, well before the housing bubble peaked, we told our subscribers not to touch PMI Group and 24 other stocks with a ten-foot pole. Here they are:

The powerful economic changes we’ve been warning you about have now begun to hit the U.S. economy where it hurts.

So to help make sure you’re completely ready for the huge volatility ahead, I want to change our relationship in a very fundamental way.

To make that possible, I will “pay” you $9,581 to immediately cancel your current Weiss Research subscription, and in a moment I’ll explain exactly how and why.

That’s nearly $10,000 for you.

All you have to do is decide whether you want to accept it or not.

But don’t worry: If you decide to go for it, I’ll still be there for you through thick and thin. So will Mike Larson, Larry Edelson, Nilus Mattive, Sean Brodrick, and everyone else on our team.

In fact, if you cancel your subscriptions right now, you can get ALL of the services and profit opportunities that ALL of our analysts offer for as long as you want, and STILL get the $9,581 IN ADDITION to all our services.

Unbelievable? Perhaps. But it’s true.

You cancel your subscriptions. You get EVERYTHING we publish today — every service, every recommendation, every video or email.

You get them FOREVER.

Plus, you’ll also get ALL the new Weiss publications we introduce in the future.

And on top of everything, you get “paid” $9,581!

Yes, I agree. It IS hard to believe. But it’s a fact. And by the time you finish reading this letter, you’ll know everything you need to know to claim your $9,581.

It’s an opportunity that I am offering exclusively to a small, select group of our subscribers, but only for TEN DAYS. The opportunity expires promptly at midnight, Saturday, June 18th. I have selected this ten-day window right now because of the dramatic events that have just begun to unfold!

Nationwide, housing prices have just made new lows. Unemployment is rising again. We have an obvious downturn in the U.S. economy.

We see a rapid deterioration in U.S. bank finances.

Plus, we are facing landmark budget battles in Washington — and a Congress sworn to block any major new bailouts or stimulus schemes.

I don’t want you to be hurt by the fall-out or miss any of the dramatic opportunities this crisis has already begun to generate.

Plus, there’s another, very practical reason I have limited this offer to a small group of investors and strictly for this ten-day window: Because of the mixed impact this kind of monumental give-away can have on my business.

I’ve been running this company without interruption for 40 years straight, and if you consider the legacy of my father’s companies before me, we have an 80-year Weiss family tradition of guiding investors to safety and wealth building opportunities. Â

I’m in great health and have a solid team of successors to keep the business going for decades to come.

So now let me explain the new kind of relationship we can have and how it works:

It’s my Weiss Inner Circle.

My Inner Circle is the most intimate, most elite, and most private group of friends and clients among our entire family of 400,000 readers and subscribers.

The idea is very straightforward: You get every newsletter, every VIP trading service, every rating, every research report, and EVERY PROFIT OPPORTUNITY that ALL of the Weiss divisions currently have to offer.

You get every single Weiss publication we launch in the future. You get them for as long as we publish them — and as long as you want them.

You get all that FOR LIFE — for less than the cost of just ONE YEAR of those services.

To underscore my confidence in these investment approaches, I have invested $1 million of my own money in each one! And you can not only track what I do with my own money but actually buy or sell BEFORE I do.

Perhaps most exciting of all, you’ll be among the first to get the new Weiss service we’re getting ready to launch in a few weeks — not to mention all the new ones we introduce in the months to come.

Plus, There’s One Big Extra Bonus
You’ll Receive That No One Else Will.

You see, up until now, whenever our analysts in Asia, Europe, Latin America or right here in the U.S. have come across major profit opportunities in certain, unique small, but innovative companies, I’ve told them NOT to recommend them.

As you might imagine, this has frustrated the hell out of our analysts who find precious little gems they’d love to recommend to their subscribers.

Still, I have drawn a line in the sand on this issue. We simply cannot recommend these investments to thousands of investors. It would make it difficult for investors to get in — or out — at a fair price.

And that’s a shame — because as you know, it’s these smaller companies that can often post some of the most explosive gains!

The great news is, you can have full access to these kinds of recommendations as a member of my Weiss Inner Circle!

Since my Weiss Inner Circle is a very intimate, VIP group, I have given our analysts the green light to recommend these special opportunities exclusively to Weiss Inner Circle members.

This way, savvy investors like you can take advantage of these stellar, extremely high profit potential companies all over the world.

The profits from just this one benefit ALONE could cover the entire cost of membership in my Weiss Inner Circle.

In addition,

You’ll Be Among the Very First to
Get the Brand-New Service We’re
Launching THIS Month!

It’s devoted to an extremely high-powered new investment vehicle.

We’ll give you the opportunity to try it out before virtually everyone else in the world.

And then when we launch it to the general public, it will cost at least $2,500 PER YEAR. But it will be yours FOR LIFE with your membership in my Weiss Inner Circle.

And there’s more.

In recent months, we have inaugurated some incredibly valuable services and offered them FIRST to Weiss Inner Circle members.

For example, members of our Weiss Inner Circle were the first to gain unlimited access to the proprietary research we have on 40,000 companies and investments.

That includes every public company in the U.S., ranging from the smallest upstart to the largest blue chip. Plus, it also includes every exchange traded fund (ETF) and mutual fund.

We also cover nearly every U.S. bank, credit union, and insurance company.

And all of this research is based on the objective ratings we originally developed.

If you want our research on any institution, you can get it instantly. If you want reports on a hundred institutions of your choice, they’re yours.

Or if you want our help to SEARCH through the strongest among THOUSANDS of institutions, that’s also a part of your membership.

Grab our research as often as you like …

Claim as many reports as you like …

There are absolutely NO LIMITATIONS!

The more investments you have, the more banks or insurers you do business with, and the more you use this incredibly timely, accurate resource, the more profitable it could be for you.

Value: Immense and unlimited!

And there’s another very unique benefit to my Weiss Inner Circle — a benefit that flows directly and naturally from our 80-year history. It’s the Weiss Family Program, which I’ll explain to you in just a moment.

But …

Please Don’t Underestimate the
Exclusive Value of This Membership.

I will never send this invitation to the general public.

I am sending this invitation exclusively to our most loyal subscribers, representing only a small fraction of our readers. And we have set aside only a very tiny number of Weiss Inner Circle memberships — enough for only 2% of our loyal subscribers.

So I am asking you not share this invitation with anyone else.

Now, if you know me, you know I devote a lot of my time and heart to helping the average investor. So I’d love to help everyone if I could. But since many of the investments made available to our Inner Circle members are often smaller special opportunities, we MUST strictly limit the number of memberships we make available.

That’s why I’d like you to keep this to yourself and your closest family members only.

Most important, I recommend that you NOT wait until the end of this ten-day window. Membership is first come first served. If all the available memberships are taken BEFORE the last day, we will close the doors sooner.

In other words, the BEST time to collect your $9,581 is right now.

So now let me explain precisely how you can effectively get paid $9,581 — and at the same time cancel your Weiss Research subscriptions.

Remember what I said at the outset: A membership in the Weiss Inner Circle costs LESS than one year of the services that members receive.

You can get a lifetime membership in all our investment newsletters … all our fast-paced ETF and stock trading services … all of our million-dollar portfolios … all of our extreme high-profit-potential options services … PLUS unlimited access to our research on all 40,000 companies based on the ratings we originally developed.

And you get it all for LESS than the DISCOUNTED price of what you’d pay for a single year.

On top of that, you get all the Weiss publications we will launch in the future.

In the first year alone, you’ll immediately save a whopping $9,581! That’s how I “pay” you this money immediately.

If you got only ONE YEAR of our services and nothing more, you’d already have a huge benefit — nearly $10,000.

But that’s just the beginning …

By the second year, you’ll have saved $27,983.

By year five, you will have saved $83,189!

And in year ten, your total savings will add up to a whopping $175,199!

WITHOUT even including the value of the new services we’re going to be adding — typically a few per year.

In this letter, I’m going to tell you about many of the services you will get, including a few that sometimes go for large triple-digit gains.

But before I do, I want to make sure you understand the context.

It’s important to point out that those large triple-digit gains are NOT always possible, and you should NOT go into any of our services with the expectation that they are the norm.

Normally, most investors are thrilled to bank single- and double-digit profits, and so are we.

And typically, it’s only when great events make markets more volatile that it’s possible to make the far larger gains.

The recent huge rises in oil, gold and other commodity prices are good examples. So is the dramatic decline of the U.S. dollar recently. The collapse of major banks in 2008-2009 also provided some unique megaprofit opportunities. And with the U.S. economy now weakening, with a big budget battle looming and major new global money flows on the immediate horizon, we anticipate similar — or bigger — market moving events ahead.

But it’s also important to remember that all investments involve risk of loss. Nobody I know — including our analysts, who I feel are among the best in the world — can win 100% of the time. Losses, even losing streaks, come with the territory.

The good news is that, with expert guidance and prudent risk management, the historic events we’re now seeing in the U.S. economy, the currency markets and in commodities offer us opportunities that other generations of investors could only dream about. With that in mind, let me tell you about the first new service we’re going to be adding THIS MONTH.

It’s by the world’s most consistently successful trader I have known or probably ever will know. And what’s unique about it is that he HAS been a consistent big winner year after year.

I can’t reveal his name right now. But when I do reveal it this month, you’ll probably recognize him instantly since he’s been such a regular guest on CNBC, Fox News, CNN … and because he’s been quoted so often in the most widely respected websites, journals and blogs all over the world.

What many people do NOT know about him is that he’s been making recommendations to a very small, private group of investors who could have used them to make a fortune.

His track record since he began in 2004 through May of this year, which we’ve verified trade by trade, shows a total return — including winners and losers — of 1,133.2% — enough to make you more than 11 times richer!

If you had started with $10,000, you could now have over $120,000. If you had invested $25,000, you could now have over $300,000. And if you had started with $100,000, you’d now have over $1.2 million.

An astonishing 69% of trades were winners — and the AVERAGE return on each winner was 87.4% — nearly a double, while the average loss on losing trades was only 32%.

Of course, past performance is no guaranty of future success because the vehicles he uses and market conditions can change. But I have personally been getting his trading signals; and I’ve seen, in real time, how consistently accurate they’ve been.

That’s important. And it’s why we’ve decided to add a new service he’ll be running to our Weiss Inner Circle this month.

Normally, investors would pay up to $5,000 for his trading signals, and even if we decide to offer a discount for Charter members, they will still pay close to $2,500 — for one year. But as a member of my Weiss Inner Circle, you will get them as part of your lifetime membership.

As a member of my Weiss Inner Circle, you will also get a lifetime membership in Mike Larson’s LEAPS Options Alert.

In most respects, LEAPS options — or simply LEAPS — are just like any other stock option. They’re generally inexpensive. And their purchase offers you virtually unlimited profit potential with your risk on each trade strictly limited to their cost plus a small broker commission.

But LEAPS give you a critical advantage that ordinary options do not: They can give you far more TIME to work in your favor — up to THREE YEARS! While most other options expire in just a few months, you can buy LEAPS right now that won’t expire until 2014!

This makes LEAPS excellent vehicles for two goals that are especially critical today:

To serve as “crash insurance,” helping to PROTECT your portfolio against losses; and

Take Phase I of this great debt crisis, for instance: Had you purchased long-term LEAPS on each of the stocks we warned you about well in advance — the very same stocks we NAMED as candidates for failure — you could have banked …

A TRIPLE on Lehman: We warned that Lehman would plunge on December 3, 2007. If you had bought a particular LEAPS long-term put option on Lehman that day, you could have closed your position 7

The powerful economic changes we’ve been warning you about have now begun to hit the U.S. economy where it hurts.

So to help make sure you’re completely ready for the huge volatility ahead, I want to change our relationship in a very fundamental way.

To make that possible, I will “pay” you $9,581 to immediately cancel your current Weiss Research subscription, and in a moment I’ll explain exactly how and why.

That’s nearly $10,000 for you.

All you have to do is decide whether you want to accept it or not.

But don’t worry: If you decide to go for it, I’ll still be there for you through thick and thin. So will Mike Larson, Larry Edelson, Nilus Mattive, Sean Brodrick, and everyone else on our team.

In fact, if you cancel your subscriptions right now, you can get ALL of the services and profit opportunities that ALL of our analysts offer for as long as you want, and STILL get the $9,581 IN ADDITION to all our services.

Unbelievable? Perhaps. But it’s true.

You cancel your subscriptions. You get EVERYTHING we publish today — every service, every recommendation, every video or email.

You get them FOREVER.

Plus, you’ll also get ALL the new Weiss publications we introduce in the future.

And on top of everything, you get “paid” $9,581!

Yes, I agree. It IS hard to believe. But it’s a fact. And by the time you finish reading this letter, you’ll know everything you need to know to claim your $9,581.

It’s an opportunity that I am offering exclusively to a small, select group of our subscribers, but only for TEN DAYS. The opportunity expires promptly at midnight, Saturday, June 18th. I have selected this ten-day window right now because of the dramatic events that have just begun to unfold!

Nationwide, housing prices have just made new lows. Unemployment is rising again. We have an obvious downturn in the U.S. economy.

We see a rapid deterioration in U.S. bank finances.

Plus, we are facing landmark budget battles in Washington — and a Congress sworn to block any major new bailouts or stimulus schemes.

I don’t want you to be hurt by the fall-out or miss any of the dramatic opportunities this crisis has already begun to generate.

Plus, there’s another, very practical reason I have limited this offer to a small group of investors and strictly for this ten-day window: Because of the mixed impact this kind of monumental give-away can have on my business.

I’ve been running this company without interruption for 40 years straight, and if you consider the legacy of my father’s companies before me, we have an 80-year Weiss family tradition of guiding investors to safety and wealth building opportunities. Â

I’m in great health and have a solid team of successors to keep the business going for decades to come.

So now let me explain the new kind of relationship we can have and how it works:

It’s my Weiss Inner Circle.

My Inner Circle is the most intimate, most elite, and most private group of friends and clients among our entire family of 400,000 readers and subscribers.

The idea is very straightforward: You get every newsletter, every VIP trading service, every rating, every research report, and EVERY PROFIT OPPORTUNITY that ALL of the Weiss divisions currently have to offer.

You get every single Weiss publication we launch in the future. You get them for as long as we publish them — and as long as you want them.

You get all that FOR LIFE — for less than the cost of just ONE YEAR of those services.

To underscore my confidence in these investment approaches, I have invested $1 million of my own money in each one! And you can not only track what I do with my own money but actually buy or sell BEFORE I do.

Perhaps most exciting of all, you’ll be among the first to get the new Weiss service we’re getting ready to launch in a few weeks — not to mention all the new ones we introduce in the months to come.

Plus, There’s One Big Extra Bonus
You’ll Receive That No One Else Will.

You see, up until now, whenever our analysts in Asia, Europe, Latin America or right here in the U.S. have come across major profit opportunities in certain, unique small, but innovative companies, I’ve told them NOT to recommend them.

As you might imagine, this has frustrated the hell out of our analysts who find precious little gems they’d love to recommend to their subscribers.

Still, I have drawn a line in the sand on this issue. We simply cannot recommend these investments to thousands of investors. It would make it difficult for investors to get in — or out — at a fair price.

And that’s a shame — because as you know, it’s these smaller companies that can often post some of the most explosive gains!

The great news is, you can have full access to these kinds of recommendations as a member of my Weiss Inner Circle!

Since my Weiss Inner Circle is a very intimate, VIP group, I have given our analysts the green light to recommend these special opportunities exclusively to Weiss Inner Circle members.

This way, savvy investors like you can take advantage of these stellar, extremely high profit potential companies all over the world.

The profits from just this one benefit ALONE could cover the entire cost of membership in my Weiss Inner Circle.

In addition,

You’ll Be Among the Very First to
Get the Brand-New Service We’re
Launching THIS Month!

It’s devoted to an extremely high-powered new investment vehicle.

We’ll give you the opportunity to try it out before virtually everyone else in the world.

And then when we launch it to the general public, it will cost at least $2,500 PER YEAR. But it will be yours FOR LIFE with your membership in my Weiss Inner Circle.

And there’s more.

In recent months, we have inaugurated some incredibly valuable services and offered them FIRST to Weiss Inner Circle members.

For example, members of our Weiss Inner Circle were the first to gain unlimited access to the proprietary research we have on 40,000 companies and investments.

That includes every public company in the U.S., ranging from the smallest upstart to the largest blue chip. Plus, it also includes every exchange traded fund (ETF) and mutual fund.

We also cover nearly every U.S. bank, credit union, and insurance company.

And all of this research is based on the objective ratings we originally developed.

If you want our research on any institution, you can get it instantly. If you want reports on a hundred institutions of your choice, they’re yours.

Or if you want our help to SEARCH through the strongest among THOUSANDS of institutions, that’s also a part of your membership.

Grab our research as often as you like …

Claim as many reports as you like …

There are absolutely NO LIMITATIONS!

The more investments you have, the more banks or insurers you do business with, and the more you use this incredibly timely, accurate resource, the more profitable it could be for you.

Value: Immense and unlimited!

And there’s another very unique benefit to my Weiss Inner Circle — a benefit that flows directly and naturally from our 80-year history. It’s the Weiss Family Program, which I’ll explain to you in just a moment.

But …

Please Don’t Underestimate the
Exclusive Value of This Membership.

I will never send this invitation to the general public.

I am sending this invitation exclusively to our most loyal subscribers, representing only a small fraction of our readers. And we have set aside only a very tiny number of Weiss Inner Circle memberships — enough for only 2% of our loyal subscribers.

So I am asking you not share this invitation with anyone else.

Now, if you know me, you know I devote a lot of my time and heart to helping the average investor. So I’d love to help everyone if I could. But since many of the investments made available to our Inner Circle members are often smaller special opportunities, we MUST strictly limit the number of memberships we make available.

That’s why I’d like you to keep this to yourself and your closest family members only.

Most important, I recommend that you NOT wait until the end of this ten-day window. Membership is first come first served. If all the available memberships are taken BEFORE the last day, we will close the doors sooner.

In other words, the BEST time to collect your $9,581 is right now.

So now let me explain precisely how you can effectively get paid $9,581 — and at the same time cancel your Weiss Research subscriptions.

Remember what I said at the outset: A membership in the Weiss Inner Circle costs LESS than one year of the services that members receive.

You can get a lifetime membership in all our investment newsletters … all our fast-paced ETF and stock trading services … all of our million-dollar portfolios … all of our extreme high-profit-potential options services … PLUS unlimited access to our research on all 40,000 companies based on the ratings we originally developed.

And you get it all for LESS than the DISCOUNTED price of what you’d pay for a single year.

On top of that, you get all the Weiss publications we will launch in the future.

In the first year alone, you’ll immediately save a whopping $9,581! That’s how I “pay” you this money immediately.

If you got only ONE YEAR of our services and nothing more, you’d already have a huge benefit — nearly $10,000.

But that’s just the beginning …

By the second year, you’ll have saved $27,983.

By year five, you will have saved $83,189!

And in year ten, your total savings will add up to a whopping $175,199!

WITHOUT even including the value of the new services we’re going to be adding — typically a few per year.

In this letter, I’m going to tell you about many of the services you will get, including a few that sometimes go for large triple-digit gains.

But before I do, I want to make sure you understand the context.

It’s important to point out that those large triple-digit gains are NOT always possible, and you should NOT go into any of our services with the expectation that they are the norm.

Normally, most investors are thrilled to bank single- and double-digit profits, and so are we.

And typically, it’s only when great events make markets more volatile that it’s possible to make the far larger gains.

The recent huge rises in oil, gold and other commodity prices are good examples. So is the dramatic decline of the U.S. dollar recently. The collapse of major banks in 2008-2009 also provided some unique megaprofit opportunities. And with the U.S. economy now weakening, with a big budget battle looming and major new global money flows on the immediate horizon, we anticipate similar — or bigger — market moving events ahead.

But it’s also important to remember that all investments involve risk of loss. Nobody I know — including our analysts, who I feel are among the best in the world — can win 100% of the time. Losses, even losing streaks, come with the territory.

The good news is that, with expert guidance and prudent risk management, the historic events we’re now seeing in the U.S. economy, the currency markets and in commodities offer us opportunities that other generations of investors could only dream about. With that in mind, let me tell you about the first new service we’re going to be adding THIS MONTH.

It’s by the world’s most consistently successful trader I have known or probably ever will know. And what’s unique about it is that he HAS been a consistent big winner year after year.

I can’t reveal his name right now. But when I do reveal it this month, you’ll probably recognize him instantly since he’s been such a regular guest on CNBC, Fox News, CNN … and because he’s been quoted so often in the most widely respected websites, journals and blogs all over the world.

What many people do NOT know about him is that he’s been making recommendations to a very small, private group of investors who could have used them to make a fortune.

His track record since he began in 2004 through May of this year, which we’ve verified trade by trade, shows a total return — including winners and losers — of 1,133.2% — enough to make you more than 11 times richer!

If you had started with $10,000, you could now have over $120,000. If you had invested $25,000, you could now have over $300,000. And if you had started with $100,000, you’d now have over $1.2 million.

An astonishing 69% of trades were winners — and the AVERAGE return on each winner was 87.4% — nearly a double, while the average loss on losing trades was only 32%.

Of course, past performance is no guaranty of future success because the vehicles he uses and market conditions can change. But I have personally been getting his trading signals; and I’ve seen, in real time, how consistently accurate they’ve been.

That’s important. And it’s why we’ve decided to add a new service he’ll be running to our Weiss Inner Circle this month.

Normally, investors would pay up to $5,000 for his trading signals, and even if we decide to offer a discount for Charter members, they will still pay close to $2,500 — for one year. But as a member of my Weiss Inner Circle, you will get them as part of your lifetime membership.

As a member of my Weiss Inner Circle, you will also get a lifetime membership in Mike Larson’s LEAPS Options Alert.

In most respects, LEAPS options — or simply LEAPS — are just like any other stock option. They’re generally inexpensive. And their purchase offers you virtually unlimited profit potential with your risk on each trade strictly limited to their cost plus a small broker commission.

But LEAPS give you a critical advantage that ordinary options do not: They can give you far more TIME to work in your favor — up to THREE YEARS! While most other options expire in just a few months, you can buy LEAPS right now that won’t expire until 2014!

This makes LEAPS excellent vehicles for two goals that are especially critical today:

To serve as “crash insurance,” helping to PROTECT your portfolio against losses; and

Take Phase I of this great debt crisis, for instance: Had you purchased long-term LEAPS on each of the stocks we warned you about well in advance — the very same stocks we NAMED as candidates for failure — you could have banked …

A TRIPLE on Lehman: We warned that Lehman would plunge on December 3, 2007. If you had bought a particular LEAPS long-term put option on Lehman that day, you could have closed your position 7

I’m off with the family for a few days. So I asked Don Lucek to fill in for me and reveal how he plans to play the market “aggressively defensive.” — Bryan

There’s no denying that some recent negative economic reports are giving the market trouble.

For instance …

* The industrial economy staggered under temporary supply chain disruptions, with the Chicago Purchasing Managers Index (PMI) and the Institute for Supply Managers (ISM) releases missing expectations by a country mile.

* Housing continued to slide, with the release of a worse than expected decline in prevailing home prices from S&P Case-Shiller.

* And the releases of several jobs reports — culminating on Friday with the all-important non-farm payrolls survey — gave the market nothing to be hopeful about for the near term.

In short, these reports are telling us that:

* The U.S. industrial economy is not yet back in fighting shape, but more distressing, that we don’t know when it will reveal stronger recovery.

* The risk of weakness showing up in 2nd quarter company earnings or company guidance has increased.

* Consumers are still a wild card in helping confirm any improvement in the economic outlook.

I’ve been following the volume patterns associated with moves in stocks of different market sectors, and have found that this most recent move down did not seem to be a normal sector rotation into defensive stocks.

Voices of reason will rightly tell you that a smart near-term strategy against this backdrop is to exercise extreme caution — do not fight the tape; take money off the table. But what do you do if you’re already defensive, and want to actually profit during periods of market turmoil?

My suggestion …

Play the downside, and look for even better entry prices for stocks you want to buy — after the storm is over.

Everything I’ve monitored lately tells me that negative sentiment is still gathering steam. But I think the rough patch we’re experiencing right now is transitory, and that after the dust settles we’ll be back to a more bullish tilt. However, I don’t know when that will happen.

So this could be the time to become aggressively defensive. I’ll be hedging some of my long positions, but looking for spots to purchase great stocks at a discount over the next couple of months.

The worst numbers seem to be coming from the global industrial sphere, so I plan to pay special attention to international issues for proper analysis. I’ve been able to get a good read on situations on the ground, in business, and in finance in Europe, which give me additional confidence in the medium-term prospects for a global economic recovery.

It’s going to take consumers to get the economy rolling.

Before that can happen, though, we need a rejuvenated consumer to help support economic growth. But while we’ve seen some glimmers of strength at the high-end, it’s not yet present at large, which will continue to provide a drag on growth. Amid slumping housing prices, weak job growth, and high gas prices, a great resurgence seems unlikely for now.

Not all of this is bad news, if you have the right hedges in place, and dry powder — in the form of a good-sized cash position — at your disposal. Also you should keep in mind that the non-stop flow of data from around the world can mislead the market, especially given the extraordinary issues affecting it right now — such as natural disasters and big picture issues like a potential financial crisis in a huge economic bloc.

Back in April, I acknowledged that the market could be in for a rough patch as we contended with Wall of Worry issues like jobs, the industrial economy, and potential financial system stress should we have deeper trouble in Europe.

That’s why I suggested keeping a large cash position, picking only high-quality stocks — ones that could weather near-term economic potholes, provide dividend income while we waited for real recovery, or to take advantage of other factors not yet present in financial reports.

But at the same time, I cannot deny that …

The Domestic and Global Economies Are Growing!

Not at the pace we’d like to see, but growing nonetheless. With the way our domestic economy is evolving, we need to take a more global view in our analysis of profit expectations.

We’ve seen global effects like the job outsourcing trend, and increased international trade, which affect firms in ways that do not fit the old models. Jobless recoveries have been a more-common sight over the last few recoveries, and probably need to be factored into this one too.

We also have an important disconnect in the way that publicly-traded firms’ earnings beat estimates so soundly while smaller business saw a drop in profits and fewer opportunities to expand their operations or workforces. My read on this: We are going into an election cycle, bank credit is still tight, and small business will feel the pressure from macro concerns.

Many small businesses are holding back until politicians settle their differences.

Once politicians’ positions on issues like health care reform and taxation become clearer, I think small business owners will be able to forecast their needs more accurately, which could unleash a positive trend from this main engine of job growth. That same political debate will help accentuate the choppy market in the near term, though.

The type of market we’re seeing right now is frequently referred to as a stock-picker’s market, but also seems to be developing a negative bias. I think it will remain so for at least the next 6-12 months. The only exception I could see would be some of the more classic defensive moves into particular sectors by institutional investors. And that will only occur if we get a downturn that lasts well into the summer or beyond.

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That’s because many of these investors — who have been contributing far more than their share of the market’s volume during the entire run-up since March 2010 — must stay invested, so support for some stocks will be there.

My Game Plan — Deploy the Hedges, Search for Values

I remain a bull on the markets and on the economy, but realize the headwinds are too strong to ignore. The S&P 500 has closed below an important support level. And I think we’ll see some violent rallies over the very near term, as the market fights to the upside and to the downside. So I don’t want to have too much inverse exposure while we watch for a trend to either develop, or not.

I’m off with the family for a few days. So I asked Don Lucek to fill in for me and reveal how he plans to play the market “aggressively defensive.” — Bryan

There’s no denying that some recent negative economic reports are giving the market trouble.

For instance …

* The industrial economy staggered under temporary supply chain disruptions, with the Chicago Purchasing Managers Index (PMI) and the Institute for Supply Managers (ISM) releases missing expectations by a country mile.

* Housing continued to slide, with the release of a worse than expected decline in prevailing home prices from S&P Case-Shiller.

* And the releases of several jobs reports — culminating on Friday with the all-important non-farm payrolls survey — gave the market nothing to be hopeful about for the near term.

In short, these reports are telling us that:

* The U.S. industrial economy is not yet back in fighting shape, but more distressing, that we don’t know when it will reveal stronger recovery.

* The risk of weakness showing up in 2nd quarter company earnings or company guidance has increased.

* Consumers are still a wild card in helping confirm any improvement in the economic outlook.

I’ve been following the volume patterns associated with moves in stocks of different market sectors, and have found that this most recent move down did not seem to be a normal sector rotation into defensive stocks.

Voices of reason will rightly tell you that a smart near-term strategy against this backdrop is to exercise extreme caution — do not fight the tape; take money off the table. But what do you do if you’re already defensive, and want to actually profit during periods of market turmoil?

My suggestion …

Play the downside, and look for even better entry prices for stocks you want to buy — after the storm is over.

Everything I’ve monitored lately tells me that negative sentiment is still gathering steam. But I think the rough patch we’re experiencing right now is transitory, and that after the dust settles we’ll be back to a more bullish tilt. However, I don’t know when that will happen.

So this could be the time to become aggressively defensive. I’ll be hedging some of my long positions, but looking for spots to purchase great stocks at a discount over the next couple of months.

The worst numbers seem to be coming from the global industrial sphere, so I plan to pay special attention to international issues for proper analysis. I’ve been able to get a good read on situations on the ground, in business, and in finance in Europe, which give me additional confidence in the medium-term prospects for a global economic recovery.

It’s going to take consumers to get the economy rolling.

Before that can happen, though, we need a rejuvenated consumer to help support economic growth. But while we’ve seen some glimmers of strength at the high-end, it’s not yet present at large, which will continue to provide a drag on growth. Amid slumping housing prices, weak job growth, and high gas prices, a great resurgence seems unlikely for now.

Not all of this is bad news, if you have the right hedges in place, and dry powder — in the form of a good-sized cash position — at your disposal. Also you should keep in mind that the non-stop flow of data from around the world can mislead the market, especially given the extraordinary issues affecting it right now — such as natural disasters and big picture issues like a potential financial crisis in a huge economic bloc.

Back in April, I acknowledged that the market could be in for a rough patch as we contended with Wall of Worry issues like jobs, the industrial economy, and potential financial system stress should we have deeper trouble in Europe.

That’s why I suggested keeping a large cash position, picking only high-quality stocks — ones that could weather near-term economic potholes, provide dividend income while we waited for real recovery, or to take advantage of other factors not yet present in financial reports.

But at the same time, I cannot deny that …

The Domestic and Global Economies Are Growing!

Not at the pace we’d like to see, but growing nonetheless. With the way our domestic economy is evolving, we need to take a more global view in our analysis of profit expectations.

We’ve seen global effects like the job outsourcing trend, and increased international trade, which affect firms in ways that do not fit the old models. Jobless recoveries have been a more-common sight over the last few recoveries, and probably need to be factored into this one too.

We also have an important disconnect in the way that publicly-traded firms’ earnings beat estimates so soundly while smaller business saw a drop in profits and fewer opportunities to expand their operations or workforces. My read on this: We are going into an election cycle, bank credit is still tight, and small business will feel the pressure from macro concerns.

Many small businesses are holding back until politicians settle their differences.

Once politicians’ positions on issues like health care reform and taxation become clearer, I think small business owners will be able to forecast their needs more accurately, which could unleash a positive trend from this main engine of job growth. That same political debate will help accentuate the choppy market in the near term, though.

The type of market we’re seeing right now is frequently referred to as a stock-picker’s market, but also seems to be developing a negative bias. I think it will remain so for at least the next 6-12 months. The only exception I could see would be some of the more classic defensive moves into particular sectors by institutional investors. And that will only occur if we get a downturn that lasts well into the summer or beyond.

Advertisement

That’s because many of these investors — who have been contributing far more than their share of the market’s volume during the entire run-up since March 2010 — must stay invested, so support for some stocks will be there.

My Game Plan — Deploy the Hedges, Search for Values

I remain a bull on the markets and on the economy, but realize the headwinds are too strong to ignore. The S&P 500 has closed below an important support level. And I think we’ll see some violent rallies over the very near term, as the market fights to the upside and to the downside. So I don’t want to have too much inverse exposure while we watch for a trend to either develop, or not.

The drop in sugar prices is over. In fact, prices have risen to an eight-week high after news broke that Brazilian production may fall short of expectations.

My indicators are telling me that sweet prices could get even sweeter.

Here are a few significant factors that could move this market:

India’s export threat has disappeared. For months, sugar prices have been held hostage to the idea that India would regain its position as a global sugar exporter; as India is the second-largest producer. Fearing a rise in domestic prices from a domestic crop shortfall, the country is unlikely to set a new quota until fall. The current gap is being filled by Thailand.

China needs sugar. Sugar imports by China, the second-biggest consumer after India, may advance to 2.3 million metric tons in the year ending September 30. With the export price from Brazil or Thailand about 25 cents a pound, that makes it more attractive to China, even with an import tariff of 50 percent. The higher import volume is 28 percent more than the U.S. government forecast!

The United States is short on sugar. The U.S. Department of Agriculture has projected decreased U.S. sugar supply for 2012 with lower imports offsetting higher beginning stocks and production. A potential drop in home-grown sugar coupled with government caps on imports could drive up prices, just before the peak Christmas season.

A harsh winter has caused headaches for U.S. sugar-cane and sugar-beet farmers. Record cold temperatures in December damaged sugar cane in Florida, taking about 260,000 short tons of raw sugar out of production, according to the USDA.

Currently, soil soaked by snow melt and ongoing cool and wet weather in the Midwest is delaying the planting of sugar beets, the source of more than half of U.S. sugar production. The delays could reduce yields because the sugar content of the root increases the longer it is in the ground

The European Union wants sugar too. A European Union (EU) committee recently voted to open a quota for 200,000 metric tons of duty-free sugar imports into the bloc. EU sugar prices surged to more than 1,000 euros a ton in some places earlier this year as the domestic market suffered a supply crisis that left refiners in Portugal, Greece and Poland struggling to access supplies.

Even Mexico increased import allowances, adding to signs that demand is strengthening.

Sugar’s Brazilian Factor: This pretty much puts control on sugar in the hands of the Brazilians, the primary exporters. But Brazil is not overflowing with sugar either. Conditions have been building up against the sugar crop.

The low sugar prices of 2008 and 2009, the financial crisis impact on capital, and recent unstable weather have all contributed to a financial squeeze on farmers. In turn, the investment in crops is less than it could have been.

Brazilian cane crops are older and less efficient than they should be. Sugar cane is now aged 4.2 years, on average, whereas the ideal would be 2 years of age. Ideally 20 percent to 25 percent of the new crop should be replanted. That’s not happening, so yields are lower.

Once the crop is ready, the main issues are crushing and processing. Today, with the higher use of sugar to meet Brazil’s rising need for ethanol, a larger part of the Brazilian sugarcane is being diverted into ethanol fuel production than in the past. This further diminishes sugar for food availability.

The drop in sugar prices is over. In fact, prices have risen to an eight-week high after news broke that Brazilian production may fall short of expectations.

My indicators are telling me that sweet prices could get even sweeter.

Here are a few significant factors that could move this market:

India’s export threat has disappeared. For months, sugar prices have been held hostage to the idea that India would regain its position as a global sugar exporter; as India is the second-largest producer. Fearing a rise in domestic prices from a domestic crop shortfall, the country is unlikely to set a new quota until fall. The current gap is being filled by Thailand.

China needs sugar. Sugar imports by China, the second-biggest consumer after India, may advance to 2.3 million metric tons in the year ending September 30. With the export price from Brazil or Thailand about 25 cents a pound, that makes it more attractive to China, even with an import tariff of 50 percent. The higher import volume is 28 percent more than the U.S. government forecast!

The United States is short on sugar. The U.S. Department of Agriculture has projected decreased U.S. sugar supply for 2012 with lower imports offsetting higher beginning stocks and production. A potential drop in home-grown sugar coupled with government caps on imports could drive up prices, just before the peak Christmas season.

A harsh winter has caused headaches for U.S. sugar-cane and sugar-beet farmers. Record cold temperatures in December damaged sugar cane in Florida, taking about 260,000 short tons of raw sugar out of production, according to the USDA.

Currently, soil soaked by snow melt and ongoing cool and wet weather in the Midwest is delaying the planting of sugar beets, the source of more than half of U.S. sugar production. The delays could reduce yields because the sugar content of the root increases the longer it is in the ground

The European Union wants sugar too. A European Union (EU) committee recently voted to open a quota for 200,000 metric tons of duty-free sugar imports into the bloc. EU sugar prices surged to more than 1,000 euros a ton in some places earlier this year as the domestic market suffered a supply crisis that left refiners in Portugal, Greece and Poland struggling to access supplies.

Even Mexico increased import allowances, adding to signs that demand is strengthening.

Sugar’s Brazilian Factor: This pretty much puts control on sugar in the hands of the Brazilians, the primary exporters. But Brazil is not overflowing with sugar either. Conditions have been building up against the sugar crop.

The low sugar prices of 2008 and 2009, the financial crisis impact on capital, and recent unstable weather have all contributed to a financial squeeze on farmers. In turn, the investment in crops is less than it could have been.

Brazilian cane crops are older and less efficient than they should be. Sugar cane is now aged 4.2 years, on average, whereas the ideal would be 2 years of age. Ideally 20 percent to 25 percent of the new crop should be replanted. That’s not happening, so yields are lower.

Once the crop is ready, the main issues are crushing and processing. Today, with the higher use of sugar to meet Brazil’s rising need for ethanol, a larger part of the Brazilian sugarcane is being diverted into ethanol fuel production than in the past. This further diminishes sugar for food availability.